Archives of Nethys

Ghorans

SourceUltimate Wilderness pg. 15, Inner Sea Bestiary pg. 14 (Amazon)Monster EntryLinkThe first ghorans came into being thousands of years ago during a great war between two nations ruled by rival archmages. When mighty necromantic curses blighted the lands of one nation, leaving its inhabitants on the brink of starvation, their canny leader cut a deal with the renegade druid Ghorus, bidding him to put his forbidden talents to use in saving the realm. The druid’s solution was the creation of a race of hardy and fast-adapting plants that could thrive even upon the curse-blighted ground. These plants, which the druid named “ghorans” after himself, swiftly developed the ability to move on their own, searching out the most nourishing soil and continuously adapting themselves to survive in more and more dangerous environments. As they grew in intelligence, ghorans evolved humanlike forms as a defense mechanism to induce sympathy and prevent further butchery.

When he died, Ghorus took the secrets of creating new ghorans to his grave, and from that point forward the number of ghorans in the world became fixed. While each ghoran could perpetuate itself via a single immortal seed, the inability to grow or propagate their species ensured that no new ghorans would ever appear. With each death of a ghoran by accident or violence, their race as a whole dwindled. The fact that their “flesh” had come to be regarded as a delicacy only further complicated their role in society, and even though most regions soon made the harvesting and consumption of the newly sentient ghorans illegal, they are still hunted by those who have developed a taste for their succulence.

Physical Description: The typical ghoran stands roughly as tall as a human and occupies a similar silhouette, but that’s where their similarities with humanity end. A ghoran’s “skin” is a complex layer of fibrous vines and rinds with a texture similar to moss-covered bark. Ghoran faces consist of layered petals that flush and flutter at a whim, allowing them to mimic the facial behaviors of their wouldbe devourers. They do not lack emotion per se, but ghoran “feelings” are primordial and abstract, making them utterly alien to most non-ghorans. A ghoran might laugh, smile, or raise its voice, but their companions seldom understand if these are displays of true emotion or merely more adaptive evolutions designed—like so many other aspects of their physiology—simply to keep them alive.

Ghorans have considerable control over their mass and can shape their bodies however they wish within the basic confines of a humanoid silhouette; this trait often gives them the impression of rustling about, especially when they are frightened or agitated. Ghorans who deal often with humanoids tend to adopt a masculine or a feminine silhouette based on their preference, but gender remains a fluid and somewhat elusive concept to them—an evolutionary adaptation of more import to the comfort of their companions than to ghorans themselves.

A ghoran has a deep cavity within its belly, housing a single seed the size of a balled human fist. Roughly every 20 years, a ghoran’s body becomes decrepit enough to no longer function. The ghoran imprints its abilities and memories into this seed and then plants it in the ground. After 1 to 2 months, a new ghoran body is born from the seed, the consciousness from the original transferring over to the fully grown body and leaving the old body behind as a mindless mass of inert plant matter. In this way, a ghoran’s legacy lives on with every regrowth; while the body regenerates, the inner self and memories of the past endure.

Society: A ghoran’s alien thought processes (to say nothing of the empty holes upon its flower-petal face roughly approximating its eyes and mouth) make it very difficult for other races to understand and empathize with, leading many ghorans to stick to themselves in segregated communities of cosmopolitan and magic-rich city-states or in the deepest wild places of their barren homeland and its neighboring kingdoms.

Ghoran architecture consists of round, multifloor greenhouse towers composed of fibrous plant material coated in organic resins that grant it the hardness of stone. The towers have no roofs and several wide, stylized windows, granting the colony of ghorans living within ample access to the essential life-giving rays of the sun. Within, the air is redolent with organic aromas that often induce soporific effects upon non-ghorans, making them pliant to ghoran suggestions and uneager to take aggressive action. When unobserved, ghorans belonging to the same colony sometimes array themselves around the edges of the tower’s internal balconies, swaying in unison to some unheard rhythm and basking in the communal warmth of daylight.

Relations: Ghorans are most comfortable with other intelligent plants (such as treants and vine leshys) and wary around plant-eating creatures (including humans, whom ghorans know created them as a food source). Because their regeneration brings minor personality changes with each incarnation, ghorans have trouble forming long-lasting relationships with races such as elves, dwarves, and gnomes. Ghorans deeply distrust warmongering humanoids such as goblins and gnolls, especially those with pyromaniac tendencies. The ghorans’ relation with humanity is the most complex, for while they admire humans for their capacities and are grateful for their creation, they fear their appetites more, and it is difficult for a ghoran to trust that a human doesn’t simply want to eat it.

Alignment and Religion: Ghorans seldom follow humanoid deities, instead preferring to worship nature itself by means of the Green Faith (see page 136) or other powerful nature spirits, such as the Eldest of the First World. Ghorans have no predisposition toward law, chaos, good, or evil, but many struggle to differentiate right from wrong as defined by most societies.

Adventurers: Owing to their delicious nature, ghorans seldom know peace the way that humanoid races do, and many are forced to contend with nature and learn to fight as a means of self-defense against capture and consumption. Many have taken to adventuring lifestyles either to aid friends and companions or out of a darker drive for vengeance. Others join adventuring groups in hopes of accumulating enough power and lore to, perhaps, determine a solution to their race’s central problem of reproduction, though so far no ghoran has solved this essential riddle.

Names: Ghoran naming conventions seem random, as each ghoran is self-named and “born” with a near perfect recollection of every memory from previous incarnations. As a result, ghorans sometimes pick names they found pleasing in other lives or name themselves after people or places they once knew. Others maintain the same name over several incarnations, though minor personality and physical changes from life to life ensure that while the ghoran’s name might remain the same, aspects of the ghoran’s gradual change can often confuse and frustrate longtime friends and allies.

Ghoran Racial Traits

+2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, –2 Intelligence: Ghorans are hardy, guileful, and eager to explore their emotions, but they process complex thoughts slowly.Medium: Ghorans are Medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.+2 Natural Armor: Ghorans have tough, rugged skin.Plant: Ghorans have the plant type but lack the immunities to mind-affecting, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, and stunning effects that type usually has.Delicious (Ex): Ghorans take a –2 penalty on Escape Artist and combat maneuver checks to escape a grapple against a creature that has a bite attack with the grab ability.Natural Magic (Sp): Ghorans with a Charisma score of 11 or higher gain the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—detect poison, goodberry (created berries bud from the ghoran’s own body), and purify food and drink. The caster level is equal to the ghoran’s level. The DC for these spells is equal to 10 + the spell’s level + the ghoran’s Charisma bonus.Seed (Ex): As a full-round action, a ghoran can expel the seed from an orifice in its abdomen. If planted in fertile ground and left undisturbed for 2d6 days, the seed grows into a healthy duplicate of the original ghoran, save that the duplicate can reallocate all skill ranks upon sprouting. Once a ghoran expels this seed, it gains 1 negative level, and it dies as soon as the duplicate sprouts. This duplicate replaces the previous ghoran character.Light Dependent: Ghorans take 1d4 points of Constitution damage each day they go without exposure to sunlight.Past-Life Knowledge (Ex): Ghorans have memories encoded in their seeds. They treat all Knowledge skills as class skills.Languages: Ghorans begin play speaking Common and Sylvan. Ghorans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages such as Druidic).

Ghoran Alternate Racial Traits

Replaces Delicious, Past-Life Knowledge

DisgustingSourceInner Sea Races pg. 215 Some ghorans’ link to their past lives becomes corrupted, causing their taste to become particularly disgusting. Such ghorans gain a +2 racial bonus on Escape Artist and combat maneuver checks to escape a grapple against any creature that has a bite attack with the grab ability. This racial trait replaces delicious and past-life knowledge.

Replaces Past-Life Knowledge

Creator's LegacySourceUltimate Wilderness pg. 16Infused with the druidic magic of their creator, ghorans quickly take to nature-based spells and spellcasting. Ghoran bloodragers and sorcerers with the verdant bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for sorcerer spells and class abilities. Ghoran clerics and druids with the Plant domain use their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. This doesn’t give the ghoran early access to level-based powers; it affects only powers that could already be used without this trait.

This replaces past-life knowledge.

Occult ScionSourceUltimate Wilderness pg. 16Created in part from an esoteric ritual, many ghorans are innately sensitive to psychic powers and influences. The ghoran gains Psychic Sensitivity as a bonus feat and treats Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (planes) as class skills.

This replaces past-life knowledge.

Replaces Past-Life Knowledge; Nature Magic

SpelleaterSourceUltimate Wilderness pg. 16Ghorans were originally created to survive and thrive in a magic-blasted wasteland, and over the centuries some ghorans have adapted greater abilities to overcome magic in general. Once per day, the ghoran can cast dispel magic as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to the ghoran’s character level. If the ghoran’s favored class is a spellcasting class, the ghoran gains a +2 racial bonus on dispel checks (Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 272).

This replaces past-life knowledge and nature magic.

Replaces Seed; Nature Magic

Martial Recollection (Ex)SourceUltimate Wilderness pg. 16The personal history of many ghorans is scarred with desperate struggles for survival, and memories of that conflict are deeply ingrained within their seeds. Whenever ghorans with this racial trait grow new bodies from their seeds, they reselect all combat feats known instead of reallocating skill ranks.

This alters seed and replaces nature magic.

Ghoran Favored Class Options

Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a favored class, Ghorans have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their favored class.

The following options are available to all Ghorans who have the listed favored class.

Druid (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 16): When casting spells that target plants or plant creatures, add 1/3 to the effective caster level, but only for the purpose of determining duration.Hunter (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 16): Add 1 skill rank to the hunter’s plant companion. If the hunter replaces her plant companion, the new plant companion gains these bonus skill ranks.Mesmerist (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 17): Choose one mind-affecting mesmerist trick that the mesmerist knows. The mesmerist can affect intelligent plant creatures with that trick or spell as if they weren’t immune to mind-affecting effects.Ranger (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 17): Add a +1/4 bonus on initiative checks and Survival checks when the ranger is in a favored terrain.Rogue (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 17): Choose one type of ranger favored enemy (or one subtype in case of either humanoid or outsider). The rogue adds 1/2 to her sneak attack damage when using sneak attack against creatures of the chosen type (maximum +3).Shaman (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 17): Add one spell from the druid spell list that isn’t on the shaman spell list to the list of spells she knows. This spell must be at least 1 level lower than the highest-level spell the shaman can cast.Shifter (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 17): Add 1/5 to the shifter’s natural armor bonus when using wild shape to assume a major form.Sorcerer (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 17): When casting sorcerer/wizard spells that are also on the druid spell list, add 1/3 to the effective class level, but only for the purpose of determining durations.Witch (Ultimate Wilderness pg. 17): Add 1/4 to the witch’s caster level when attempting dispel checks using dispel magic, break enchantment, and similar effects.